Fourth of July
by moonswirl
Summary: Now that there's an Everwood category, putting it there :) Basically it's about what happened the night of the accident that put Colin in a coma...


Fourth of July  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. Spoilers: The pilot Rating: G, maybe PG Plot: I know there's only been one episode, so in the end the characterization might be off, but it's just a chance I'll have to take. What happened at the accident that put Colin in a coma. A/N: I hope it's okay I put it in here since there's no Everwood category at the moment, but if there ever is, I'll move it there. :) I don't know if I'll write another chapter to this. I don't think I will, I think it's just fine this way.  
  
"I'll be right down!" Amy called out before turning back to her dresser to pick up her necklace and tying it around her neck.  
  
"Hurry up or we'll be late!" Colin called back.  
  
"Then we'll be late. We'll get to make a grand entrance."  
  
"Whatever you say," he returned, and she could hear the smile in his answer. It always managed to remind her how much she cared about him if doubt ever came, and how much he cared back.  
  
"Going to Stacey's party?" her brother asked as he stood out in the hall. She turned to face him, passing a hand through her hair to make sure it was still in place.  
  
"I might drop by later," he shrugged.  
  
"Alright, well I gotta go, later," she walked past him and down the stairs to meet Colin in the living room. Bright followed her. "Don't you two get started or we'll never leave," she told the two as she headed for the door.  
  
"Hey, we have self-control," Colin insisted with a grin.  
  
"Uh-huh?" she grinned back as they walked out together, leaving Bright inside. They got in the car and drove off. Stacey lived only a few blocks away, but they still drove. She gave a party every 4th of July, her siblings did before she was old enough to. It was a long-standing tradition in Everwood.  
  
"You guys aren't going to do anything crazy tonight, are you? My dad's still angry at you for what happened at last year's party," Amy reminded him. He winced at the memory as he pulled up in front of the house.  
  
"I promise," he told her.  
  
"Don't make promises you won't keep."  
  
"Don't you have even a little faith in me?" he gave her side-way smile. She couldn't resist that and he knew it.  
  
"Come on." They got out of the car and walked in. They greeted their friends and made their way into the home, already filled with people dancing, drinking.  
  
The party was fun and wild as usual. Bright showed up a few hours into it and the mood changed. Amy could tell the two of them had something in mind already. She saw them leaving and she followed.  
  
"Where are you going?" she asked as she tried to catch up.  
  
"Relax, we'll be back in a bit, we're just going for a ride," Colin told her.  
  
"I'll come with you."  
  
"No, I." he started, then turned to Bright. Amy sighed.  
  
"I get it. You guys have fun." Colin gave her a quick kiss and the guys walked off down the street. She watched them go for a while before going back into the party.  
  
She waited for them for hours, until everyone had either passed out or left. With a sigh she left and started heading home. It was when she turned the corner that she saw the police car parked in front of her home. Her breath caught in her throat and she started running.  
  
"Mom? Dad?" she called out as she stepped into the hall. She heard voices from the living room and she took a few silent steps toward it to hear without being seen.  
  
". unconscious when we got there. He was thrown out of the car on impact," the officer explained to her parents as they sat on the couch.  
  
"What about Colin?" her mother asked.  
  
"His condition is critical, we haven't heard from the hospital," he explained. She had to have been dreaming. this couldn't be happening. She ran back out of the house and hurried to her bike. She pedaled faster than she'd ever pedaled. This couldn't be happening. this just could not be happening. She was going to wake up in her bed and find it all to be a horrible nightmare. any second now.  
  
She got to the hospital and jumped off her bike, letting it drop on the ground. Her bike's safety was the least of her worries. She went for the front desk but she spotted the officers standing to the side so she went their way instead. It took some convincing but she got them to tell her what had happened.  
  
When they'd finished, she was left trying to figure out what she was feeling. She was horrified, she was sad, but most of all she was angry. She knew she shouldn't have let them go off like that. She knew they were going to do something crazy, she should have insisted harder for them to stay at the party.  
  
She couldn't go see Colin for a while. She got to see Bright the morning of the 5th. He didn't remember a thing. When she told him about Colin, he was in shock. He lied there shell-shocked and she couldn't say anything because if she did talk it would only be things he already knew and wasn't in the mood to hear.  
  
It was almost a week before she was allowed to go see Colin. The first time she saw him on that bed, she ran back out of the room. It took another week before she got up the strength the go see him, to sit at his side.  
  
Her first few visits were silent except for the sounds of the machines around him, and her tears. A month later, she learned they were moving him to a hospital in Denver. The night before he was supposed to be transferred, she went to see him, to talk to him for the first time.  
  
"How could you do this?" Those first words had come out before she could stop them. They were the truth, so she didn't feel so bad about speaking them. "I keep telling you to be careful, why don't you ever listen to me?" she cried. "I waited for you at that party and you never came back. You never came back, Colin. You promised you would, you said you'd only be gone for a bit. And I trusted you again. I knew you weren't really going for a simple ride, and I didn't stop you." She stopped, looking down to her hands, then back up at him as she continued to cry.  
  
He looked so fragile, so innocent. She tried to be angry at him, but she couldn't. She never told her friends, her family. she felt responsible. Whether or not people thought it wasn't her fault, it would always feel this way.  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I wish I'd stopped you, but I didn't. I wish I could have prevented this, but I couldn't." She gently took his hand. "But I'm not giving up on you. I promise. That's a promise I'll keep, for as long as it takes."  
  
* 


End file.
